It wasn’t but a moment before Ivy whispered, “I can’t sleep.”
Sighing, Violet tossed until she lay on her other side, facing Ivy, though she couldn’t see her through the darkness. “Me either,” she spoke softly, wondering if Ivy could see her, if she looked stupid with her eyes fixated wherever they landed in the darkness. Silence overtook the room again, and Violet could hear nothing. When she breathed, she thought she sounded like a damn blow horn compared to Ivy.
Ivy hadn’t suddenly fallen asleep; she was quiet as she was figuring out what next to say. She inched closer, and though Violet knew there was still at least two feet between them, she could feel her breath on her face. “Do you like my brothers?”
That…wasn’t what she thought the woman was going to say.
“I,” Violet started, pausing immediately, “it might be stupid, since they kidnapped me, but…I do. They’re not that bad.” Not that bad. Well, she wasn’t an epitaph writer, so she didn’t have to be good with her words.
Still it wasn’t a good proclamation of her feelings. That was something Violet had never mastered, not when it came to feelings of the heart and all that other mushy gushy shit.
Ivy chuckled. “Not bad. Yeah, I have to agree with you there. I still can’t believe they did all of that for me. If it wasn’t for me being taken, those women would be out there living their lives. You’d be free.”
“But then I’d never have met you,” Violet whispered, hating how sappy she sounded.
It was a moment before Ivy asked, “Can I tell you something?”
“Of course.” Like she’d say no. This was kind of like a sleepover, in a weird, adult way.
“When I saw you, I thought…I thought you might be different. I thought you’d…” Ivy trailed off, sighing loud enough for Violet to hear. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t. It’s okay. I’ll get over it.” Another beat passed before she muttered, “I always do.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m a shifter. My kind aren’t…I don’t think I’ve ever met another one like me. I don’t know if it’s less likely among shifters or if I’m just really that unlucky.”
Violet had a feeling she knew what Ivy meant, but just to be safe, she said, “And when you say like you, you mean…”
“Gay,” Ivy whispered the word as if she didn’t know how Violet would take it, almost like she expected Violet to leap out of the bed and run away. “I thought you were different than the others, since you’re human. I thought…” She breathed out an incredulous chuckle, though it came out more like a grimace. “Sounds so stupid, now that I’m saying it.”
Violet didn’t think it was stupid. If anything, she knew how Ivy felt. What she didn’t understand was the whole thought you were different part, which implied Ivy thought she was—what? Straight as a whistle now that she’d been with Brice and Everett?
“My brothers are lucky,” Ivy whispered sadly, quickly adding, “as long as they don’t screw it up with you. I wouldn’t put it past them.”
She smiled to herself. That sounded like a normal sister-brother sentiment if she’d ever heard one before. Still, Violet knew she couldn’t let this go. “You weren’t wrong,” she whispered, wanting to reach under the covers and take her hand, but she held back. “When I first saw you, I think I lost all train of thought. You’re the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen, Ivy.”
“You’re…you’re just saying that—”
“No, I mean it one hundred percent. I saw you, talked to you, and I knew I had to get you out of there. I tried getting those two dicks out there to band together with me to get you out, but they wanted to play it safe. After meeting you, I knew I had to find a way—and I would’ve, had Fletcher not stuck us on his chessboard of pawns.”
“Do you really think I’m the prettiest woman you’ve ever seen?” Ivy asked, her voice soft and hesitant.
Violet had thought that of Iris, but her looks were blown out of the water the instant she’d seen Ivy from across the bath. Her pale, naked body, the muscles on her arms, her flat abdomen—not to mention her ivory hair, sparkling blue eyes, and luscious lips.
Okay, she needed to stop thinking about her like that, otherwise certain things were bound to happen, things that she swore herself off of tonight.
“I do,” Violet said. “I—” She didn’t get the chance to say anything else, because suddenly she was not alone on her side of the bed anymore, a pair of full, hungry lips were on hers, drowning out anything else she might’ve said.
That answered her see-in-the-dark question, didn’t it?
Ivy abruptly pulled away, muttering a quick, “I’m sorry. I didn’t…I shouldn’t have done that.”
Did this woman ever do anything that didn’t involve apologizing or terrorizing her brothers? Violet reached out, grabbed her, and pulled her back. This time when their lips touched, she was ready. She was also the one doing the kissing first, so she might’ve plopped a nice one on Ivy’s nose. Whoops.
Back to the lips. Lips that tasted way better than Violet imagined they would be. A pair of lips she could drown in, and her skin grew goosebumps when she pictured those lips traveling everywhere on her body.
With her hand on the crook of Ivy’s neck, Violet pressed her tongue against her lips, seeking entrance. Ivy fumbled more often than she didn’t; it was clear to Violet she had almost no experience with this sort of thing. Which was just fine, because she was in a teaching sort of mood.
God, she couldn’t ever remember feeling so horny. These shifters would kill her at this rate. But was she going to stop? Hell no. She was going to keep going until she couldn’t go any more.
Violet, not once breaking their lip lock, moved to straddle Ivy. She let go of her neck to run both hands under her shirt, cupping her chest over her bra. The woman below her shivered, but she didn’t stop her. Violet was in control.
She only broke their heated, tongue-laced kiss to yank off Ivy’s shirt, fumbling with her bra in the darkness. Everything was just a bit more difficult to accomplish in the pitch-blackness of the room, just a bit more awkward, like she was fifteen again and just discovering the wonders a female body held.
Except here, tonight, Violet was anything but the inexperienced one. She knew where to go, what to focus on, how to make the woman beneath her moan and arch her back, whereas with Maria, it’d been much the opposite.
Violet kissed her neck, running her hands over Ivy’s bare chest, tweaking her nipples, making them hard before kissing her way to them. She took one into her mouth, flicking it with her tongue, working the woman harder when she let out a stifled groan.
“Do you want me to stop?” Violet asked in a bare whisper, pulling her mouth off her breast just enough to ask. With every spoken word, her lips grazed the nipple, a soft sensation she knew from past experience was both awful and tantalizing.
“No,” Ivy whispered.
That was all she needed to hear.
As her mouth returned to the hardened nipple, Violet’s hand traveled down Ivy’s stomach. Her abdomen was to die for. Flat and hard, muscled. If she was honest, she was a little jealous of her in that respect. Plus the hair. This woman could dress up as Khaleesi with no wig. How awesome was that?
So not the point.
Violet’s mouth returned to her neck when one of her hands went between Ivy’s legs, rubbing her slowly over the shorts. The woman mewled, her chest rumbling with a soft, barely-existent growl. Almost like a purr. It was a beautiful sound coming from a beautiful woman.
She took her time, rubbing along her gently before she snaked her hand beneath the shorts. Unshaved, Violet discovered, but it didn’t bother her. She ran her fingers along Ivy’s slits, gathering some wetness from her hole and bringing it up to the mound of flesh she would focus on. It always felt better with proper lubrication, otherwise it was like rubbing sandpaper on it, which was just uncomfortable—and making Ivy uncomfortable in any way was the last thing she wanted to do.
Ivy arched her back, let
ting out a glorious moan as Violet got to know the most private part of her. She would give anything to flick the light on right now and see the look on Ivy’s face. Seeing it would only make her even more wanton, she knew.
Her fingers were all Violet needed to lead Ivy to her first orgasm. Whether or not it was Ivy’s first one ever, or just the first one of the night, well, she didn’t care. She wasn’t about to stop—unless Ivy suddenly asked her to, of course. But judging from the way she cried out when she came, as if it was an earth-shattering and vision-blurring experience, she had a feeling the shifter wasn’t going to ask her to stop.
Focusing on Ivy, making her feel pleasure in every single pore of her flawless body, made Violet lose track of the time. It also made her tired, go figure. After a few more rounds of making Ivy’s body tremble and sweat with a need only Violet could fill, she helped the shifter out of the shorts and took off her own clothes.
She wanted to hold her, to feel her skin on hers, her chest and back expanding with every breath she took. Violet crawled beside her, helping Ivy move to lay on her side with her back to her, and she wrapped both an arm and a leg around her, holding her close. Ivy could’ve easily escaped her grip since she was the stronger one of the two, but she didn’t. She made no moves to try, and before Violet could say anything about what they just did, she felt the steady humming of someone who’d fallen asleep.
Ivy fell asleep in her arms.
Violet didn’t know why the thought made her happy, but it did. It made her too happy for words. This was where she was meant to be, with these three. If this was anything like what Maia felt for her mates, Violet understood now. The mere thought of leaving any of them sent pain shooting through her heart.
As sleep started to take her, Violet knew: this was her pack, and these were her wolves.
Chapter Twenty-Four - Everett
Morning came much too fast, although Everett would be remiss if he said he wanted the night to last longer, because sleeping on the couch had been…awful. Downright dreadful and uncomfortable and not something he’d wish on his worst enemy.
His worst enemy had been Fletcher, and now the shifter was apparently dead, so he didn’t even have one of those.
The only reason he thought the morning came too fast was because he actually got sleep. Even on the horrible couch, he was out the moment his head hit the pillow. He was able to fully relax and sleep with no nightmares or fitful bouts, no tossing and turning—probably because the two women he would worry about were here, where they were safe.
Brice was the first one up, and he was already making coffee by the time Everett was awake enough to get to his feet. He shuffled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes as he went to grab a mug from the cabinet.
“They’re still asleep,” Brice said. “Did you…” He stopped, rubbing his stubbly jaw as he studied Everett. There was something about his expression he couldn’t read.
“Did I what?” Everett said, sounding much like he was whining. In a way, he was. First off, the morning came too soon. Second off, he was still a little upset he didn’t get to share the bed with Violet. He was the one who realized his wolf wanted her as his mate first, not Brice—though he also supposed that would’ve meant Ivy would’ve had the couch or the floor, and his baby sister didn’t deserve that fresh hell.
“Did you hear anything last night?” Brice finally asked.
What the hell kind of question was that? Everett frowned. “Sorry, I was actually out like a light last night. The last thing I remember before this morning so rudely woke me up was falling onto a pillow that smells like ass.” He was a lot less amiable in the morning, before he had his coffee.
“I woke up sometime around two, and I thought I heard…” Again, he trailed off, scratching the back of his head, as if it was something truly perplexing. He was measured in pouring them both coffee.
The door to the bedroom cracked open, and Violet sauntered out, wearing nothing but a t-shirt. No bra and no panties, either. With a yawn, she moved into the kitchen, leaning on the counter beside Everett. “Thought you heard what?” she asked, tilting her head. Her purple hair fell over one side of her cheek, messy and unkempt, wild.
That was when Everett smelled it. Or, rather, her. Violet had traces of his sister’s scent on her, which would mean…
Violet took the untouched mug from Everett, shooting him a smile that made his stomach tighten and other parts of him lustful. “For Ivy,” she said, turning on her heel and sashaying her way back to the bedroom, shooting them both knowing looks before she disappeared.
Everett was slow to meet Brice’s gaze, and for a moment, both brothers were unusually silent. It was obvious what it meant, but it was clear neither of them wanted to say it. Since one of them had to break the silence, he said, “Wonder if she’ll ever bring me coffee in bed. Course, that would mean we’re someplace else, with more than one bed, because I swear to God, I am not sharing a bed with my sister.” He shot Brice an over exaggerated expression. “Or you. Not again after this place. You snore like a mother—”
His older brother shot him an icy glare. Yep—there was the brother he was accustomed to. “What the fuck are you saying, now? I don’t snore.”
Barking out a laugh, Everett was about to say something witty and refuting back, but then something came over him. A scent he’d never smelled before, but he knew what it was. Brice must’ve smelled it too, for his older brother tensed, tossing a look at the door. Shifters were coming—for them? For Violet and Ivy? Something inside his gut told him this was probably his fault, somehow.
Before either Everett or Brice moved, a harsh knock on the door nearly made him jump out of his skin. He looked to his older brother, wordlessly asking him what they should do. Try to run? If they didn’t have Violet, they could leap out of the windows and make the three-story fall easily, but Violet couldn’t, and he’d be damned if he left her anywhere again.
No, he would stand with her, no matter who was outside the door.
It was but a moment before a voice in the hallway spoke, “I know you can smell us by now. Open this door and do it now, or I’ll break it down.” Not a voice Everett had ever heard before, and yet instantly his inner wolf wanted to bow down and follow its directions, most likely because it’d been a long while since he’d heard anyone with such a natural authority.
An alpha.
Everett was the closest to the door, and his feet slowly drew himself to it in spite of his brother’s shouting. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Brice asked, angry. “Get away from that door—”
Too late. Everett unlocked the door, and almost instantly he was met with a hand to the throat. It wasn’t the alpha who grabbed him; it was someone else. Another male wolf, this one almost ridiculously tall and muscled, like a walking nightmare with dark hair and equally black eyes. The second wolf pushed him up against the nearest wall with a growl, lifting Everett’s feet off the ground as he choked him.
This one didn’t even need to turn. He was a monster, a beast of a man already, six and a half feet tall.
The alpha stepped into the room, commanding an air of respect even though he was nowhere near the size of the second one. With his foot, he slammed the door behind him, glaring at Brice, his eyes flashing a metallic blue. His blonde hair was messy, a bit greasy, as if he hadn’t bathed in a while, as if he’d been searching forever.
“Where is she?” the alpha demanded, baring sharpened teeth at Brice, to which Brice started to lunge for him.
Everett was being choked, so he couldn’t exactly ask who he meant, and anyway, it didn’t matter. He might’ve been an alpha—he might’ve had one hell of a super soldier at his side—but he wasn’t taking Ivy or Violet.
Brice let out a growl that did not threaten the alpha at all. He leapt on the counter between them, poised to attack, when the bedroom door opened and Violet stepped out, fully clothed.
Every single wolf in the kitchen and the living room froze to look at her. Even though sh
e was human, it was obvious to the newcomers she smelled like them. It was clear she was theirs…meaning they should know Brice and Everett would never give her up.
But then Violet did something that stunned Everett—and Brice, by the look of him. She grinned a full-blown smile, ran right to the alpha and gave him a hug. A fucking hug. And, even more surprising, the alpha smiled back. After pulling away, she turned to the big one holding Everett by the throat.
“Put him down,” Violet said. No, commanded. She commanded the huge shifter, and he actually listened to her.
Everett was back on his feet and coughing the next moment, tossing a questioning look to Violet, who now had her attention solely focused on the half-turned wolf still growling on the kitchen counter—Brice.
“Stop it,” she said, frowning until Brice’s chest ceased its rumbling and his teeth and claws shifted back into their human counterparts.
Tossing a glare at the big one, Everett muttered, “I’m confused.”
Violet wasn’t. She actually seemed happy to see them, which would mean… “Remember when I told you I knew some shifters? These are two of them. Everett and Brice, meet Alarick and Grimm, two of Maia’s mates.”
Two of Maia’s…Everett had a hard time putting it together.
To the alpha, Alarick, she asked, “Where’s Farkas?”
“He stayed behind with Maia and Emma,” Alarick spoke with pride.
As he spoke, Ivy creeped out of the bedroom, wearing the same shirt and jeans she had the day before. Both Everett and Brice braced themselves, because their little sister was still technically an unclaimed female, but Alarick and Grimm only glanced at her before turning their attention back to Violet.
“Emma?” Violet asked.
With a nod, Alarick said, “We had a girl.”
The news made Violet even happier. She smiled so widely the expression lit up her whole face, and she could barely sputter out a congratulations. It did not make Everett happy though, because that meant if they would’ve gotten the right mark, they would’ve delivered two females to Fletcher who he could’ve used in his dirty house.
Her Wolves: A Reverse Harem Romance Page 16